United States: The recent news suggests that the World Health Organization has greenlighted the first mpox vaccine for children.
The move, as many experts hope, would contribute to increasing the availably of immunization to one of the most affected demographics during the current mpox outbreaks in Congo and surrounding African countries.
More about the news
In a statement released late Tuesday, the WHO said the mpox vaccine produced by KM Biologics of Japan had received approval for administering to children above one year in a single dose.
More than 130 percent higher than in the same period last year, earlier this month, Save the Children, a charity, reported that cases among children younger than 18 are on the rise in Congo, adding that there are more than 25 thousand suspect cases now, ABC News reported.
The charity reports that children were at four times greater odds than adults of dying from the newest form of mpox first identified in eastern Congo earlier this year.
About Mpox
The condition, Mpox, to an extent, is a form of smallpox, and its primary effects include fever, rash, lesions, and fatigue types of symptoms.
Experts have earlier observed that mama is more common among children in Congo and Burundi, the two nations contributing to over 90 percent of all mum cases across the current outbreak in Africa.
Until now, WHO had only recommended the mpox vaccine from Bavarian Nordic for individuals 18 years and older, while summarizing that the shot can be administered to the younger population if doctors assumed that the benefits might not be overshadowed by the risks in children and others groups such as pregnant women due to lack of adequate data.
Last week, it noted that cases of mpox in the Congolese region where the new, more infectious form was first identified seemed to be ‘plateauing” while they have been rising in other countries such as Burundi and Uganda, ABC News reported.
To date, a little over fifty thousand citizens of the Congo have been administered the mpox vaccine of Bavarian Nordic.